How to Sew a Couple of Gradient Meshes into One Object using Mesh Tormentor and Illustrator

In this tutorial we will take a closer look at the technique of sewing together of gradient meshes. This action cause a lot of questions and misunderstandings from Mesh Tormentor users, that's why today we will look at this issue in more detail, which hopefully will help you to avoid such problems in future.

To test this technique you'll need Mesh Tormentor v 0.39.0.0, which you can download here.

Step 1

Create one closed path and a couple of open with the Pen Tool (P). In future, the closed path is to become a gradient mesh, and open paths are to be mesh lines.

Step 2

The nature of gradient mesh is such, that all its cells should have four vertices as the basis of every mesh is a rectangle. But, as we see, our object has four cells, which have only three vertices.

Take the Scissors Tool (C) and cut the closed path in the points A, B, C, and D.

Step 3

Select all the created objects, and then click on the Outline button in the Pathfinder panel (Window > Pathfinder).

And now click on the button "Make mesh from docked paths" in the Mesh Tormentor panel (Window > Mesh Tormentor).

As you can see, you've got one gradient mesh object.

So now we need to color the mesh gradient points into the necessary colors.

I have some exciting news for the users of Mesh Tormentor. The new version of the plug-in is prepared to be released. We hope that it will let us work even more effectively!